


farmer’s almanac

by cloudtalking



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M, Mental Illness, Soulmate AU, abuse and child neglect, badass jeremy knox oh my god, for jeanmmoreau for the-tfc-network’s exchange, referenced car accidents and serious injuries, riko moriyama can deepthroat a goddamn knife lil bitch, stabbing but it’s iconic trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 09:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15554754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudtalking/pseuds/cloudtalking
Summary: soulmates know everything that their other knows, excluding who they are. jeremy knox knows his soulmate is in danger and the world will burn as he changes that.





	farmer’s almanac

**Author's Note:**

> this is for jeanmmoreau and i hope u like it!!!! this mightve been way longer except i have self control goddamnit.

i.

 

jean moreau’s soulmate knows that magic is real.

 

he hears riko talking about forbidden things; an ever growing list of banned items and ideals. everytime riko watered the rose bush he spoke of how it would help all of them bloom— they don’t need faeries or santa or folktales; they are going to the best of the best, a golden legacy for all to follow, the perfect court— but no buds ever seemed to form. jean watches as the thorns surround the three of them, closing in around them, and doesn’t dare speak.

 

“magic isn’t real,” riko says, and it’s aimed at kevin. it’s been years since kayleigh died, but not quite long enough for her son to forget her stories. “you’re eleven now, honestly. i don’t wanna hear anything about  _ na daoine sídhe  _ again.”

 

jean bites his lip, because his soulmate is eleven and loves to dream. they read enough harry potter to memorize the pages, minute bloodstains next to the ink from years of paper cuts. they don’t so much care that their letter might be late, so long as it comes. he thinks that if his soulmate were here he might say something, but it’s kevin and jean can’t stick his neck out on the chopping block for someone quite so close to the problem. 

 

kevin doesn’t look at either of them, thorns wrapping tight around him. “okay riko, i promise.”

 

“good.” riko grins, and jean wonders if his soulmate knows how afraid this makes him.

 

ii.

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate is fluent in french, so jeremy is too. it’s a bit of a nasty shock for his mom when she finds out.

 

they’re shopping at an outlet store, a huge complex with even bigger crowds. jeremy’s soulmate hates crowds like they hate the dark, and jeremy doesn’t blame them at all, but his mom needs someone to keep her company through the trip for much the same reasons. if jeremy is going to be brave for them, he has to be brave for her first.

 

two shoppers are talking a bit too loudly outside of one of the stores his mom warns him not to go into, where it seems to cost at least a hundred dollars just to peek inside. their words are strange, but they click in his mind like lost puzzle pieces. 

 

“hey!” jeremy calls in this same tongue. “i like your shoes!”

 

the two look up, one poking a finger to their chest and raising their eyebrows. jeremy nods hard enough to rattle his brain, pointing at their studded heels.

 

“thanks,” the shopper says in their language, shocked but sincere, and then the two continue on.

 

jeremy’s mother takes a deep breath, eyes wide and screaming with wild thoughts. “your soulmate’s a frenchie, huh?”

 

he nods, and, just to be a nuisance— “ _ oui.” _

 

“please don’t shout things at strangers trying to find them.”

 

“i’ll do my best.”

 

_ “jeremy knox—“ _

 

iii.

 

jean’s soulmate has a big family and knows the favorite meals of every sibling; empanadas and rice for javier, chocolate chip pancakes for isaiah, tacos with too much sour cream for michael, and a good ol’ crackhead sandwich for maria. they also know exactly how to make each and every one of them by heart.

 

“a crackhead sandwich?” kevin asks, biting his lip to contain laughter jean himself had shared when he’d first accessed the information.

 

they share tidbits about their soulmates every so often, trimming rose bushes and hoping the gardener doesn’t notice. it loosens the constraints, makes them feel something other than fear. kevin has several, none of which riko will ever let him have. jean has just the one, and he knows riko will want to have them too.

 

with kevin, riko is terrified of him choosing anyone but himself. with jean, riko knows just how beneficial a pair is on the court. they know everything about each other, have all of the other’s skills, can predict what the other is about to do before they even do it. they play perfectly together on the court.

 

jean hopes his soulmate knows signing a contract with the ravens is the biggest mistake they can ever make.

 

riko knows all about these conversations. he knows every corner of kevin’s mind when he wants to, knows they know he knows, knows they know he could end this at any time he wants.

 

“it’s because he knows i’ll die if i cut off all connection,” kevin explains, not in jean’s head but still knowing him enough to answer a question left unasked. “this is enough.”

 

the only thing riko doesn’t know about kevin is what kevin knows about his soulmates and has kept off his tongue. the bonds are never meant to overlap unless they are shared, and all riko has is kevin.

 

“so,” kevin says in the present. “ _ que le fuck  _ is a crackhead sandwich?”

 

jean winces. “please don’t butcher romance languages like that.” 

 

kevin shrugs in place of an apology. he makes slandering jean’s tongues into an art form to protest his refusal to teach him any of them.“it makes about as much sense as a crackhead sandwich. sounds like a sex position.”

 

jean snorts. “fuck, you’re right. but apparently it’s actually just a standard buttered roll from a deli with crushed doritos in between the halves.”

 

“oh— eugh, that’s gross.” kevin winces. “i can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it.”

 

“you want to make some?”

 

“he’s gonna fucking kill us both,” kevin says, but it isn’t disagreement.

 

the thing about rebellion in the nest is that there’s no possibility that they’ll get away with it. riko knows everything kevin knows, everything he does with jean. this is acting recklessly without reason, something that normal middle schoolers can do carelessly and that the two of them have to choose carefully.

 

still, they’re middle schoolers, and middle schoolers are idiots. they get an older raven to smuggle in the contraband and gorge themselves on some of the worst food they’ve ever had, waiting for riko to realize they’ve done the deed and punish them for it. 

 

it isn’t worth it, but that doesn’t much matter in the end. 

 

iv.

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate is in danger. 

 

that much is obvious, a sense of fear and adrenaline that has always been present around his soulmate. it’s less a sudden fear than a constant one,  _ eso sí que es _ and all that. 

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate is in danger, and doesn’t know how to defend themself.

 

that much is missing from their other talents: overwhelming excellence in exy, fluency in four languages and at least two of them learnt without his help, an extensive knowledge of first aid to rival that of a field medic on a battleground.

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate is in danger, and he can help them.

 

he splits the cost with his mom and works on the weekends, getting paid under the table for twelve hours of manual labor. he uses it for martial arts and boxing classes, intros to psychology, online courses on areas of the law pertaining to abuse victims. mostly, it’s boring, but he grinds as hard as ever for anything his soulmate might need.

 

soulmates can’t mentally communicate, for all jeremy screams. he hopes they get the hint.

 

v.

 

jean’s moreau’s soulmate is planning something huge. he hopes to god he isn’t bonded to an idiot.

 

vi.

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate plays exy like a heart pumps blood through the body; instinctive, without thought, with all their worth.

 

jeremy has never thrown himself into any sport before, not when he has his younger brothers to look after, not when he’s working every odd job he can get to pay his sister’s medical bills and using his free time to learn. it’s never been an option for him, not before the accident and not after it.

 

his parents spend his eighth grade into ninth out of sorts, not exactly all there anymore, his mother in the physical sense in his father in every other one. maria has been in and out of the hospital for years, her mental state drastically deteriorating along with her body, but after the accident she’s never out of it.

 

he gets the call about a year before freshman year, the house phones ringing all over the two-story. javier is sitting next to jeremy at the kitchen table, learning from him and not his parents how to make himself lunch. 

 

“olivia, jeremy, and maria knox got into a car accident off 302,” says the woman on the other side. jeremy runs out of the room and locks himself in the bathroom for the rest of it.

 

none of them drive anywhere anymore, mostly because their parents refuse to have them in the car. jeremy ends up carpooling with his neighbor nearly everywhere, his friend’s parents picking up after the mess left by his own.

 

kaiden is a star athlete, using time jeremy has filled with jobs and lessons to train. his family doesn’t need extra money, his siblings don’t need a substitute for absent parents. 

 

“i know that no one else i’m playing is spending half as much time grinding as i am,” kaiden says, and jeremy can believe it. they’re two of a kind, throwing their all into everything. once you live and breathe something other than yourself, it becomes more a part of you than your lungs. for jeremy, he breathes protection; for kaiden, he breathes exy.

 

“you can do it too, you know,” kaiden prods, nudging his side. “you have the work ethic.”

 

he also has a soulmate who bleeds the sport more than breathes it. he knows everything he could ever know about every position, knows it as deep as muscle memory without ever picking up a racquet.

 

“i just don’t have the time,” jeremy says, and even he can taste the disappointment. it’s not that he hates looking after his family, but he was robbed of his own childhood to provide one for the others. 

 

“i’m here whenever you do,” kaiden offers. 

 

jeremy knox’s soulmate knows exy isn’t worth their life. jeremy knox might give some of his to play.

 

but now, his sister is back in the house. his parents can be home more and are almost required to, watching over maria and the rest by proxy. it’s a bit too late for jeremy to consider them having raised him, but it’s not too late to be a part of his brother’s lives.

 

kaiden brings it up again. “wanna try out for the team this year?”

 

jeremy grins bloody. “fuck yes.”

 

vii.

 

jean moreau’s soulmate is amazing at exy.

 

this isn’t something they know, exactly, but it’s something jean can tell from watching them on the field. 

 

“jeremy knox,” kevin announces. “playing lead striker on the cypress high school lions for about two years. he was accepted on the spot after showing up to tryouts and was pulled up to varsity even though he hadn’t ever played outside of practices with his neighbor.”

 

“ _ que le fuck _ ,” jean breathes. 

 

kevin grins, mistaking jean’s worry for wonder. “yeah, it’s fucking amazing. i think with a little more polishing he could make perfect court, though we might have to change out his position.”

 

jean can’t breathe, can’t talk, can’t scream. still, he opens his mouth, breathing more than speaking:  _ “no.” _

 

“what?”

 

riko walks over before jean can answer, slow and languid like a snake after devouring its kill. jean thinks his hopes are dead enough to count. 

 

“so you think this kid’s good enough to join us?”

 

“i  _ know _ it.”

 

“yeah,” riko laughs, and jean’s about to throw up. “i know you do.”

 

jeremy scores eight goals out of the twelve his team makes, winning by nine. jean’s fingernails rip through his palm like paper, his breathing shallow for more reasons than just his bruised ribs.

 

riko asks the lion’s coach for some time alone with her star player, and how could she refuse when its riko moriyama asking?

 

up close and personal, jeremy takes jean’s breath away. 

 

obviously, jeremy is covered in sweat and stinks like hell, but if that really bothered jean all that much he’d be hard pressed to find any sort of friend in kevin— he always falls straight to sleep after practice, and it takes more time than jean usually has to get him up and into the shower. 

 

even with all that, jeremy is stunning in his reality. he isn’t model-pretty, very few people can manage that, but he’s fit beyond normal high school exy standards and he’s bright enough in every way that jean’s eyes have sunspots just from looking at him.

 

“coach bull said you wanted to see me?” jeremy asks, nervous and hopeful in a way that’s sweet enough to make jean sick. his eyes dart between all of them, only when they meet jean’s he can tell they’re  _ dangerous.  _

 

thorns that dig into jean’s skin are burned away, leaving matted blood and scorch marks. it’s more fear than hope for him, but jeremy knows it. 

 

jean’s reminded that the sun is a ball of fire, and jeremy isn’t hoping to be recruited.

 

riko nods. “yes, we do. it’s not often that a player like you catches kevin’s eye, of course.”

 

“i’m honored,” jeremy gushes, and jean knows he is. “i’m a big fan, you know.”

 

“many people are—“

 

“of kevin, i mean,” jeremy cuts him off. “and my soulmate, of course.”

 

the world stops breathing. 

 

“your soulmate?” riko asks, eyes on fire.

 

jeremy grins, and fuck if jean doesn’t know his soulmate is about to do something monumentally stupid. 

 

“yeah,” jeremy confirms. “soulmates, rather. kevin day and jean moreau.” 

 

jean turns to kevin to see him trembling, and he knows now just how much of a liar jeremy’s nonsense smile is because it’s hiding snakes behind it. 

 

jean can’t even deny it, neither he nor riko can know anything that pertains to their matches other soulmates. it’s airtight if not concrete and jean can’t help but know it’s going to work.

 

he thinks of being eleven and wanting to protect his innocent soulmate from the reality of the world. what a fucking idiot.

 

“i’ll be taking them now,” jeremy continues. “thanks for bringing them to me— really appreciate it.”

 

“they’re mine,” riko spits at him, and fuck if it isn’t venomous. the floor sizzles and pops with the acid, but jeremy can chew him up and spit him out in pieces.

 

“oh really?” jeremy asks. “your brother said differently.”

 

“my brother has nothing to do with this.”

 

“he does, actually,” jeremy says.  _ in japanese _ . fuck. “especially since i know fucking everything about how you run things, and how detrimental it is to his goddamn  _ investments.” _

 

“he can’t fucking take them from me,” riko returns in the same language. his hands are fists and jean in frozen, kevin paralyzed. 

 

“they were never yours, and i’d argue that they don’t belong to anyone if it didn’t put the deal at risk.”

 

“what fucking deal?” riko hisses.

 

“oh?” jeremy cocks his head. “haven’t you heard? the public loves stories about underdogs and reunited families. we’re signing with the foxes.”

 

people like to say that in times of crisis, everything happens in slow motion. jean thinks those people just don’t know how long a few seconds can really be, because—

 

_ one mississippi. _

 

riko strikes out, fist flying for jeremy’s face—

 

_ two mississippi. _

 

jeremy braces for it, hands up to stop and deflect but—

 

_ three mississippi— _

 

jean strikes out instead, tackling riko and swiping his legs out from under him, hitting the hard-tiled floor as one tangled mass.

 

“don’t fucking touch him,” jean warns. “you won’t like it if you do.”

 

kevin makes a sound that sounds like he’s dying, and jean doesn’t have to look up to know that it’s because jeremy is putting an arm around his shoulder and helping to corral him closer to the door. it’s a little disconcerting. 

 

jean gets up, slipping a knife out of riko’s pocket as he does. riko lets him, knowing from kevin that jean’s holding it in front of him in a way that implies both experience and a resolve to use it.

 

god fucking bless jeremy knox.

 

“getaway car is out back,” says jean’s amazing sunshine soulmate. “it’s not anything fancy, but it’ll get us to PSU with a couple rest stops on the way. i’ve packed some shit in advance.”

 

riko pushes himself off the floor. “don’t you fucking—“

 

jean stabs him. he goes back down. kevin screams a little.

 

“bad _ ass, _ ” jeremy beholds. “like, shit yo. if we weren’t already soulmates i’d have to tell you how fucking hot that is.”

 

“i think i know,” jean says over kevin’s cries. “when can we go?”

 

“i wasn’t kidding when i said i’d packed the getaway car in advance.” jeremy grins. “we’re leaving right the fuck now.”

 

“good.” jean grins back, and it’s nervous and scared but honestly jean has never felt powerful before now and the whole sky is fireworks.

 

“okay, fuck, this is fine,” kevin says, in french. jean’s jaw drops below the ground. “i have another soulmate there anyway, which  _ you—”  _ he points to jeremy— “certainly aren’t.”

 

“and this soulmate can speak french?” jean croaks, also in his native language.

 

_ “oui.” _

 

“motherfuck, why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“i could only do it once, you know that. i was saving it for the right time.”

 

“i just fucking stabbed riko moriyama, this isn’t exactly a good time for fucking anything at all—“

 

“we can go like, anytime now,” jeremy drawls. “no rush. if riko gets back up we can just stab him again, I guess.”

 

jean and kevin exchange wide-eyed stares. kevin coughs into his fist to clear his throat.“i’m napping in the backseat.”

 

“lit.” jeremy sends him a thumbs-up. 

 

as jeremy drives them through their cross-country expedition into freedom, jean refused to take his eyes off of his soulmate. if he looks away, this could all cease to be. 

 

jeremy takes a hand off the wheel to put in jean’s. “i’m not going anywhere, jean.”

 

jean moreau knows his soulmate is sitting across from him. he knows his soulmate put his life on the line for the both of them. he knows his soulmate is his savior. he knows his soulmate’s name is jeremy knox.

 

jean thinks he can learn to love jeremy, if he doesn’t already. it’s scary, because jean has never known how to love, but jeremy seems to know it well enough for both of them.

 

jean squeezes jeremy’s hand and hopes to god that his soulmate isn’t thinking of taking out the entire fucking moriyama crime syndicate, honestly. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it!!! there’s lots of extra bits to this fic that i’m too tired to include rn but you can ask me for them in the comments if u want!!!!
> 
> @twnyards on tumblr


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